Wrestling
by A Song in the Dark
Summary: A lesson in wrestling turns into them both learning a thing or two.‘I can feel your heart beating,’ Arthur whispered. ‘Here,’ Merlin breathed, moving Arthur’s hand and putting his head there instead. MerlinxArthur please r&r XD one shot fluff


**Wrestling**

The crowd was cheering; the men laughing raucously and the women clapping heartily as Arthur beat opponent after opponent. Again and again he would slam them into the ground with the ferocity of a lion. Merlin was stood to the side, at the end of each match he would hand Arthur a towel to wipe his face and a goblet of water; Arthur drank greedily, but Merlin didn't mind because it meant he got to watch. Whenever Arthur took a hit Merlin's heart would stop beating for a moment; and whenever he took control and brought the ground up to meet the body of his challenger Merlin's heart would flutter.

Later, that evening, when Merlin was serving Arthur food in his chambers, he voiced what he had been dying to ask Arthur all day; 'Arthur?'

'Mm?' the other replied with a mouth full of soup.

'Um…I was wondering…'

'Spit it out man!' Arthur ordered impatiently.

'Would you…'

'Would I?'

'Would you teach me to wrestle?'

Arthur frowned slightly, 'why?'

'It just looks fun,' Merlin shrugged.

Arthur laughed, 'It is, when you're good.' He looked Merlin up and down 'you're a bit small, wrestlers have to be strong, like bears, and sturdy enough to take someone running at them and not fall down, like a wall.'

'I'm stronger than I look?' Merlin replied hopefully.

'I hope for your sake that's true,' Arthur warned, there was quiet for a moment while Arthur considered it and ate some more soup. 'Alright, I'll do it, tomorrow, first thing,'

Merlin nodded.

'So we'll go out into the fields…outside the walls…we don't want people watching, not the first time, you might make yourself more of a laughing _stock_ than you already are,'

Merlin stared at him, annoyed, he had been in the stocks _again_ yesterday for tripping and spilling wine over the King. 'Ha, ha, very funny, how witty, you are a comic genius-'

'Alright, alright, I get the point,' Arthur interrupted Merlin's rant. 'Tomorrow,'

'Tomorrow,' Merlin agreed.

'Good, now get out of my sight,' Arthur joked.

Merlin nodded and left.

The next day, when the sun was filtering through the trees, Prince Arthur and his manservant could be seen walking through the streets of Camelot, on their way out. Arthur was in his loose, blue shirt, brown britches and boots; he had dispensed with both red and brown jacket because the day was so hot before the sun had even risen. Merlin was in his red shirt today, he chose it because Arthur didn't like them to be dressed in the same colour. Merlin was also carrying a basket, a book and bucket; why, he had no idea.

When they got out of the city walls Merlin set down the three objects and sat on the grass. Arthur carried on walking, he turned and saw Merlin on the ground; 'Come on! We're not there yet!' he called, Merlin sighed to himself and picked himself up again. He hurried to catch up with Arthur.

'Where are we going?'

'Somewhere with a river,' Arthur answered, 'trust me, you are going to need it.'

So they carried on walking until they found a spot of fresh green grass, lush and full from the spring. There was a small stream running close to them and this is where Arthur stopped and sat down. Merlin set down the basket, the bucket and the book.

'Right, first of all, you need to know the basic moves. The aim of wrestling is to knock your partner to the ground. The one who falls because of the other one loses; the one who causes the other to fall is the winner.' Merlin nodded.

The rest of the morning was spent teaching Merlin different moves and watching him carry them out with incredible concentration and effort but not much precision or skill. By lunch time, Merlin was red in the face and worn out. He collapsed next to Arthur and, when prodded by said prince, simply moaned and grimaced. Arthur got up, grabbed the bucket and headed to the stream. He filled the bucket to the brim with icy water and brought it back to Merlin.

'Put you head in that, it'll cool you down,' he instructed.

Merlin did as he was told; the water was cool and refreshing and made him really wake up. Arthur then went to the basket and tipped the contents out onto the grass. There were two apples, four slices of bread and two slices of cold chicken.

'Lunch is served,' he muttered and relaxed on the grass with two slices of bread, a slice of chicken and the book.

Merlin helped himself to food and laid down next his master. 'Arthur, what are you reading?'

'A book, what do you think?' he replied, concentrating hard. 'Actually, you can read it to me,' he said, passing Merlin the book, open half way through.

Merlin picked him up and quickly read the first few lines. It was a fairy tale; a little childish for a grown man, Merlin thought. But he read it anyway. It turned out to be lots of short stories, mostly about handsome princes killing evil witches, dragons and (Merlin gulped) warlocks. When he finished the last page he turned the book back to the first page.

'Read the inscription,' Arthur said, blankly.

'To my dearest child, I cannot give you a name because I do not know you yet, you are still inside me. I wrote these stories to read to you as you grew up, but I can feel that I will never see you grow up, it's just a sense. So I want you to know that I love you, and will always love you, read these stories when you need reminding of that. All my love Igraine'

Merlin looked up at Arthur who immediately snapped into himself again. 'Right, come on, let's test you out,' Arthur said briskly.

'W-what?' Merlin stuttered.

'Yes, come on,' he repeated, pulling his shirt off and flinging it onto the grass. Merlin didn't even look at Arthur as he removed his own shirt and stood up, nervously.

They faced each other; 'On the count of three,' Arthur warned, 'One…two…three!' They ran at each other, as soon as Merlin knew what was coming his mind went blank; he couldn't think of anything Arthur had taught him and all he thought of was that he had to prove to Arthur that he wasn't a laughing stock and he was strong, and everything Arthur said he needed to be.

They grappled with each other, pushing and fighting until, eventually, Merlin fell backwards, Arthur on top of him, the sheer weight of him knocked all the wind out of Merlin but, neither of them could help the roars of laughter that escaped them both.

Neither of them noticed until all of the laughter had died, that Arthur's hand was right over Merlin's heart. They both stared at it.

'I can feel your heart beating,' Arthur whispered.

'Here,' Merlin breathed, moving Arthur's hand and putting his head there instead. He ran his fingers through Arthur's blond curls and heard him moan; 'Is that nice?'

Arthur nodded hastily before bringing his face up, level with Merlin's. Slowly, he moved forward; giving Merlin plenty of time to move away if he wanted to but Merlin stayed where he was his eyes fixed on Arthur's lips; his own, slightly open. Merlin's breath suddenly came faster, as his nerves caught up with him and he realised what he was doing and he couldn't believe what they were about to do; but he wanted it to happen.

Their lips met, just for a moment before they pulled away; then moved close again. This time, Merlin worked his mouth open, opening Arthur's with it and slipping his tongue inside to explore. He could taste Arthur in the back of his throat and it made him moan. Arthur's hand came up to the nape of Merlin's neck and fisted around the hair there.

After they didn't know how long; they broke apart and Arthur pressed his forehead to Merlin's, still tasting his breath in the other's gasps in his mouth. After a moment of silence; he voiced his question; 'Do you want this?'

Merlin nodded hungrily, and Arthur hastily unfastened his servant's britches; it was made harder by the already visible bulge in the groin area. By the time Merlin's britches were pulled down to his knees he couldn't wait any longer and pulled Arthur to him. Arthur rolled onto his back, pulling Merlin on top of him and running his long fingers down Merlin's back until he could pull Merlin as close as he wanted.

Nervously, Arthur confessed; 'I've never done this before,'

'Neither have I,' Merlin comforted.

Merlin sat back on Arthur's thighs and fiddled with the lace up of Arthur's britches until they opened and the pair of them wrestled the britches further down his legs. Now Merlin could wriggle his way back up onto Arthur's hips, he leant forward and kissed Arthur again, nibbling at his lips until he tasted blood.

There was a roaring in both of their ears as they surrendered to something that had been testing the limits of their self control for long enough. The sun warmed their bare skin as they explored each other and gloried in the wonders and magic of each other. Later that day, Merlin and Arthur wandered back to the castle; Merlin was happy and confident that there would be many more days where they could learn everything they would ever need to in the warmth of the sun. As for wrestling, he thought he would leave that to the Prince of Camelot and his own heart.


End file.
